We are growing a generation of Indians, who don't know about Shivaji, Kalidasa, and Guru Gobind Singh. I call this Owl Gandhi generation. This is the generation that was educated in English medium schools.
Just recently I happened to give example of Kalidasa to a recent immigrant to the U.S from India, and the man seemed to possess no idea about Kalidasa. I had to rekindle his memory by telling him about "the man who was cutting the branch he was sitting on." And the man barely remembered the parable. And he seemed to know nothing about the conext of the story. No idea about who was Vidyottama.
Similarly, a few years back, I happened to be in the middle of conversation with a man who was "bhakta" of Warren Buffet. I thought this man, being from Bombay, will have some idea of Shivaji. So I mentioned in the context of an example. I was shocked that he possessed barely a rudimentary idea of Shivaji's dialogue with a captured beauty.
What is going on in India. Have we raised a generation on comic books, Aesop's Fables, and startrack TV serial. It is a generation that knows a lot about foreign brands and symbols. A generation that knows the imported secular idea of separation of church and state, and so on and so forth. But a little about its own culture?
Your thoughts welcome.
